The release of author Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code took the world by storm, resulting in a major success at the box office when Tom Hanks brought the code-breaking Robert Langdon to life, though Hanks himself looks back on those stories as being a bit of “hooey.” While Hanks has become one of the most beloved and acclaimed actors in history, even he admitted that the cinematic world of that character was motivated more by commercial decisions than narrative ones. Hanks followed The Da Vinci Code with the films Angels & Demons and Inferno. The character was recently revived for the Peacock series Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
“God, that was a commercial enterprise. Yeah, those Robert Langdon sequels are hooey. The Da Vinci Code was hooey,” Hanks shared with The New York Times Magazine. “I mean, Dan Brown, God bless him, says, ‘Here is a sculpture in a place in Paris! No, it’s way over there. See how a cross is formed on a map? Well, it’s sort of a cross.’ Those are delightful scavenger hunts that are about as accurate to history as the James Bond movies are to espionage. But they’re as cynical as a crossword puzzle. All we were doing is promising a diversion. There’s nothing wrong with good commerce, provided it is good commerce. By the time we made the third one, we proved that it wasn’t such good commerce.”
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Despite none of the films being received well by critics, the initial installment was a major financial hit, with subsequent films seeing dwindling numbers. The Da Vinci Code sits at 24% positive reviews, though it went on to earn $758.2 million worldwide. Angels & Demons sits at 37% positive reviews and took in $486 million worldwide while Inferno has 23% positive reviews and only took in $220 million.
The Lost Symbol debuted on Peacock last year and is described, “Based on Dan Brown’s international bestselling thrillerย The Lost Symbol, the series follows the early adventures of young Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a chilling global conspiracy.”
Peacock cancelled The Lost Symbol after only one season. There are currently no announced plans regarding the future of the Dan Brown series of stories.
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